The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ekiti State Chapter, has thrown its weight behind the National Chairman of the party Iyorchia Ayu, while refuting the call by Seyi Makinde for his resignation.
Newsonline reports that the vote of confidence passed on Ayu comes after the Ogun state PDP chapter passed said they support the national chairman of the presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar while refuting the call for the former senate president’s resignation.
The Ekiti PDP said their decision to back Ayufollowed after their Tuesday interaction between the presidential candidate, Atiku and PDP South-West stakeholders in Ibadan, Oyo State.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, the Ekiti State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Raphael Adeyanju, said, “The Ekiti State chapter of the PDP, after a critical review of the interactive session of our Presidential Candidate, His Excellency Abubakar Atiku with the party leaders and stakeholders of the party in the Southwest, in Ibadan on Tuesday, is convinced that the agitation for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu should be suspended in the best interest of the party.
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“Our party believes in the sanctity of our constitution, we must therefore do everything to maintain this sanctity. Any action that undermines the spirit of the party’s constitution at this crucial stage can only be considered as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the next presidential election
“If we cannot respect our own rules, guidelines and constitution as a party how will Nigerians trust us to respect the constitution of the Federal Republic, if voted into office?
“We appreciate the real concern of our zonal leaders and their determination to protect the interest of members against any form of marginalization, but we must also consider the fact that we also have very few months to go into the election, with a ruling party as our main opponent.”
Adeyanju added that “Any hardliner stance at this crucial stance can only lead to a constitutional crisis and unnecessary litigation. These are avoidable distractions that must not be encouraged. We are aware that the next party official that has the constitutional right to succeed Ayu will also come from the Northern section of the country, while major positions will have to be swapped between the Northern and Southern zones of the country.
He questioned, “Do we have the time and the resources to go into another National Convention now? How many party members currently holding executive positions will be ready to sacrifice their positions at this crucial period? Can you trust party members not to go into litigation over issues like these? That is why we wish to appeal to all stakeholders to suspend all agitations till after the election.
“We are ready to kickstart Atiku’s campaign in Ekiti as soon as possible and we enjoin all our leaders to participate actively as it is obvious that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the only candidate that unites our nation at this critical moment.”
Recall that Governor Seyi Makinde had in the meeting said the Soth-West in their unanimous decision want the national chairman and a former Minister of Education, Ayu to resign, which would guarantee the support of the region in the 2023 general election.
“The message from the South-West PDP is the South-West is asking that the National Working Committee of the PDP should be restructured.
“We are asking the National Chairman to step down so that the South will be fully included. That is the message,” Makinde stated.
However, Atiku at the Ibadan meeting refused the request of the Oyo State governor, stating that Ayu’s resignation would require a constitutional amendment which the party cannot go into in the time limit for the 2023 election to take place. He enjoined that party to remain focused to ensure the victory of the party come 25 February, 2023.
